Sega Rally

Arcade gaming: it's an evocative term loaded with promise and suggestion, yet one that's long since lost its cutting edge relevance and magnetism since its heyday. All too often it's lazily bandied around to sell new console games by people who seem to have forgotten what it actually means. SEGA hasn't. Arcade games should be about providing the perfect quick fix to the passer-by; easy to learn, hard to master, pick-up-and-play goodness with a single line of explanation and a hungry coin-slot. Here's a great looking game....off you go. Enjoy.

That last paragraph neatly sums up why this modern reinvention of SEGA Rally works so well. It really is the perfect quick-fix driving experience that anyone can play; a fabulous looking game which requires zero explanation, with short, furiously intense three lap races that keep you coming back for more. Die hard, old school veterans will be astonished how well SEGA has nailed what was required, and newcomers will admire how fresh it all feels. A driving game that's not a complete slog to get into? A game which places fun front and centre from the moment you pick up the pad. Imagine that.

With such a responsive, drift-happy handling model, you can afford to swing out your back end and launch yourself at hilarious angles into hairpins and blind 90 degree turns with thrilling abandon. You can finally drive how you've always wanted to in a Rally game: without fear, and with the sense that you're fully in control. Knowing that you're not going to roll the car, plunge to your doom down a ravine, or spin out every five seconds encourages a fearless approach. Essentially, SEGA has taken the stabilisers off. This isn't a rally game; it's a SEGA Rally game. The distinction is crucial.

To dwell on the tracks a little more it's important to emphasise just how well designed they feel, which is why you won't mind the repeat play. Each one has so many environmental factors to take into account, such as contrasting surfaces and variable conditions. Sometimes you'll go from loose, uneven country lane surfaces to smooth city tarmac and back, or icy, treacherous slush, to sheet ice, to wet mountain roads, to muddy off-road lanes. The tighter, more focused tracks on show in SEGA Rally have a much more profound effect on how you actually race. Without a doubt, the deformable track feature revolutionises how you race, and in that respect, yes, that makes this SEGA Rally remake a worthy update, and in many respects a true next generation racing game.

SEGA Rally is easily the freshest arcade driving experiences to have emerged in years, providing more wide-eyed excitement in five minutes than most games manage in five hours. To find a game that strips out the pointless and unnecessary padding and gets back to, you know, making the actual racing the fun bit is worthy of celebration on its own, but to then underpin the whole thing with deformable tracks is a masterstroke. As one of the most important and well-realised ideas to hit the racing genre, it's something I'd urge any racing game fan to try out. SEGA Rally isn't just a nostalgic remake, but a genuinely revolutionary twist that takes arcade racing in a new direction.